


Wake

by kissingkenma



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Bokuaka - Freeform, Comas - Freeform, Fluff, Haiykuu - Freeform, Happy Ending, M/M, a sprinkle of angst, atsuhina even if you squint, hospital au, idk how this tag system works, sakuatsu if you squint, this fandom needs more happy ending fanfics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:35:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27949154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kissingkenma/pseuds/kissingkenma
Summary: Akaashi Keiji has lived the same day on repeat for who knows how long now. He doesn’t understand what’s happening to him but just assumes he’s dead and is in a weird, twisted version of the after world. He’s met with confusion when one morning, after so many of the same, scripted day, it all changes. But he has no other option but to accept it.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou
Comments: 5
Kudos: 43





	Wake

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya !! Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoy it :)

I gave up a long time ago. 

I’m not stupid. I never have been. I’m aware that living the same day over and over on repeat isn’t a normal thing to experience. 

Something must’ve happened. 

Maybe I finally died. 

You never know, maybe this is the afterlife. There is no confirmed heaven or hell. Maybe this is what happens to those who die. 

That’s the theory I’ve come to a conclusion on but it could really be anything. 

At first I thought it was a lucid dream but one of those really long dreams that you eventually get tired of. 

But I lived through an entire normal functioning day in said dream and then it just. . . reset. 

It was weird and a little bit scary at first but I assumed I would wake up soon enough so I counted the days that went by in my “dream” and wondered how slowly time was moving in real life for it to be this long. 

I lost count (more like gave up counting) of the days around. . .what was it? Thirty-four? Maybe thirty-five?

I always wondered what death was like. 

If I knew this shit was waiting for me, I would’ve fought harder to stay alive because there is no word to describe how I feel these days aside from bored. 

After every day plays and ends, there’s a short period of time where everything is blank for a while. 

It made me laugh at first. It’s like my brain is using the time to reset the day. 

It’s okay, though, because that period of time gives me moments like this to think. 

Glancing around the all too familiar place that I’ve named the “waiting room”, it’s like always, no different than any other day. 

It’s all black. 

I am surrounded by nothing but four black walls. 

I wouldn't even have thought they were walls if I didn’t run face first into one in an attempt to escape this hell on one of my first days here. 

Funny, I say that like this is a real place.

Oh, yeah. There’s a door, too. 

It took me a week to find it but I did when I was walking around the room with my fingertips tracing the walls. 

My fingers hit a cold, hard handle. 

It was weird because the door and the handle were black, too, so it looked like my hand was wrapped around nothing. But it was a handle nonetheless, what do I care what color it is?

I was so excited. So convinced that this was over. 

Nope. It was locked. 

It’s been locked since I was put here. 

I would explain more but the new day is about to start. I can feel it. 

And just like that, like always, my eyes are opening to the bright white of my hospital room and the sounds of rhythmic beeping from the machines. 

Sometimes, on very rare occasions, the one sense that would never come to me, my scent, would return.

These days were very comforting. 

I never thought that I would but I really do miss the scent of my hospital room. 

Before all of this, I was in it for about a year because of some heart problems that I was born with but they had gotten worse over time so I was hospitalized for treatment. 

I was almost done, too. Just had to spend another week and a half in that small white-walled room and then I was free to go home. But, of course, something had to come in between that. 

Anyways, I could smell the hospital today. 

Normally, it’s a very faint scent but my nose scrunched with how intense and clear it was today. 

It smelled like chemicals, cleaning products, and clean sheets. 

This was new but I don’t think much of new things anymore. They all amount to nothing in the end. 

Here it is. The start to my day. 

The same nurse that I’ve had for so long before this comes in, opening the door with one hand and holding a tray in the other, the scripted words falling from her lips when she sees me awake.

“Good morning, Keiji. How’re you feeling today?”

She sets the tray down and goes to open the curtains in front of my window. 

It brings a tiny curve to my lip when the curtains are pushed back to reveal a bright and sunny day. It’s been raining non-stop for a week straight now. 

“Good morning, Aika. Today’s the same as any other day.” 

She hums as she hands me the little cup full of pills that she had on the tray. 

“You know by now that answer isn’t going to cut it. Really now, any chest pains? Difficulty breathing?” 

I take a deep breath for her to listen to with her stethoscope. “Neither.” 

“Good, good.” She checks the watch on her wrist. “Breakfast is almost here. Same as usual?” 

After a nod she turns to leave but like always, I know she’ll just turn back around and ask the question. 

“Up for visitors today?” 

I humor her because she knows the answer but is obligated to ask. “Hmmm. I’m unsure, who is it?” 

She narrows her eyes at me but the grin on her face gives away the playful meaning behind it. “You know who.” 

I chuckle and wave, “Please, let him in before he bursts a blood vessel.” 

She leaves without another word, just a silent nod, and exactly thirty-seven seconds later, he comes bounding through the door. 

“ ‘Kaashi! Good morning!” “Good morning, Bokuto-san.” 

There he is. The best part of my day. 

Bokuto and I had known each other for five months before this. 

He had come in after a serious car accident about six months after I’d been hospitalized. 

After his emergency surgery, he was left with severe brain damage and couldn’t leave the hospital until he re-learned the basics like walking or holding a pen steady in his hand. 

It was terribly sad. 

He was such a fine young man with a perfect life already set out for him. 

I had known of him, Bokuto Kotaro of the MSBY Black Jackals. 

He was easily one of the best players on the team. 

And now he would never play again. 

He knew this but still, even after his dreams were crushed and swiped away from him, he promised to try his best to return to as full functioning as he could. 

Everyone was amazed by his strength and bravery. 

How strong does one have to be to smile after all that? Very. 

It wasn’t long until he wheeled himself into my doorway. 

I looked up from my laptop to see him looking at me with wide eyes and I blinked in surprise. 

“Hello.” 

He seemed to have been zoned out of my face because he had to blink himself awake. 

“Oh- Hi! I’m sorry, I know we haven’t met but I’m Bokuto and I just. . .” 

He trailed off so I picked up for him. “Hello, Bokuto-san. I’m Akaashi. Are you alright? Do you need me to call a nurse for you?” 

He shook his head instantly, wheeling into the doorway a little bit further. “No! I just. . .” His eyes suddenly seemed to twinkle. “Are you watching a volleyball match?” 

I suddenly remembered the device on my lap and felt foolish. 

I normally watched different matches of any teams simply because I missed being able to play the sport but I didn’t even realize that the one that was currently playing was one of the patient’s next door to me. 

“Oh. Yes. I suppose it is one of yours.” 

His eyebrows raised and he instinctively moved his hands to his wheels to come forth but stopped. He looked into my eyes, asking for some sort of permission. 

“Would you like to come and watch with me, Bokuto-san?” 

His grin was brighter than a million suns. 

“I really would.” 

That was the beginning of our friendship. 

We would spend the good days (the days when both of us were feeling well enough to be able to meet in one of our rooms) watching and analyzing volleyball matches, his or not. 

Even if that’s what we did all day, we were alright with it. 

Maybe it was my perceptive nature but I always knew that no one was as strong as he let on he was, no matter how much he wanted to be. 

He had snuck over one night around midnight and was sitting in his chair next to my bed, some random game of his playing on my overheating laptop. 

It wasn’t until a particularly amazing line shot that I heard the first sniffle. 

But we’re in a hospital; that’s all you hear all day: sniffles and coughs. So I thought nothing of it. 

Not until I glanced at him just to check on him. 

The tears cascading down his face scared me. I hadn’t been scared in so long. 

“Bokuto-san?” 

“I’ll never be that person again, Akaashi.” 

What was scarier: His crying or his use of my full name, I know not. But I did know that it was my job to fix him right then. So that’s what I attempted. 

After about a month of physical training, Bokuto was able to lift himself up using mostly his upper body strength and move without particularly using his legs so that’s what I helped him do. 

I shut the laptop and put my hands under his arms, supporting his body as I pulled him onto the bed next to me. 

He was a bit taller than me and a bit more built even though he had lost some muscle from being bedridden for so long but that didn’t stop me from cradling his head in my neck. 

His tears were warm against me but that was alright. 

“You’re right, Bokuto-san.” 

He sniffled and tried to hold off his hiccups to listen to me. 

“You will never be the man on that court again.”

As I expected, that made him tense and before he could chide in about my awful consolation skills, I continued. 

“But you have the opportunity to become someone better.” 

“‘Kaashi?” 

“After this, you’ll have the opportunity to do or be anything you want. How about we use it to make you into someone better than you could’ve ever hoped for?”

“We?” Oh, how small his voice sounded. 

“I’ll help you, Bokuto-san, I promise.” 

At this point, I wasn’t promising because I was his fan. Now, I was his friend. And friends want to see each other succeed. 

That night, he didn’t return to his room.

I let him lay in my arms in a silence that lasted until we both were almost sleeping. 

“‘Kasshi?” 

I hummed at the sleepy voiced man. 

“Why do you watch volleyball so often?” 

I guess I had never mentioned it to him. 

“I miss playing so badly.” 

He sucked in a breath. “You play?” 

“Oh, yes. I played in my highschool and early college days.” He was so quick to ask another question. “What position? Wait let me guess-” 

“I was a setter.” 

It was silent for a minute. I almost thought he had fallen asleep until he started giggling. 

“Well, what's funny about that?” 

“I found my setter.” “What?” “It’s a cliche, I guess, for certain volleyball players to click with setters. You’re my setter now. I choose you.” 

“We’ve never even played together, Bokuto-san.” 

His pinky grazes mine in what I thought was an accident at the time. “Then let’s change that.” I let him elaborate. 

“If I'm going to work hard to recover then you have to, too, ‘kay? Let’s play together one day.”

I thought about it for a moment. 

I’ve never had anything to fight through this for. 

“Okay.”

When I returned from my little flashback, Bokuto was talking to me about something I had accidentally tuned out but to avoid hurting his feelings, I nodded along to feign comprehension. 

He only finished when our food was brought to my room. 

With my scent back, I noticed something strange as we ate. 

“Bokuto-san, are you wearing a new cologne?” 

I always loved when something like this happened that changed the script that I lived in. 

“Yeah, actually. You noticed?” 

I inhaled deeply and nodded. “It’s lovely.”

“Thanks, ‘Kaashi! I’ll wear it more often!” 

After that, we ate in silence as we watched the same match of his that we do every day. 

It was a favorite of his, the game of the MSBY Black Jackals vs. the Schweiden Alders. 

By now, I’ve memorized every play, every score, every slip up, and every cheer of the audience. 

But there’s one part I’ll never grow tired of watching. 

When on-screen Bokuto makes the final shot at the end of the game, pulling their victory, real time Bokuto’s face flickers with so many emotions. It’s such a sight to see and I pity those who will never see it. 

First is fond remembrance, and then grief, and then hope, and then he smiles at me. 

“One day, you’ll set the winning shot to me, right, ‘Kaashi?” 

And like always, “Of course.” 

The nurse will come back into the room in about a minute and since it’s a nice day will ask us if we want fresh air. 

Normally, I decline and send Bokuto off without me but today feels. . . different? 

Maybe since my scent is back and so strong, it put me in the mood to smell the outside world. 

They both smile like they always do on days where I accept the offer. 

Bokuto argues with the nurse about who gets to push the wheelchair I need since I haven’t gotten out of bed in quite some time and he wins after making the point: “It’ll be good physical therapy for me to not only walk but push his wheelchair!” 

So that’s how we found ourselves in the hospital’s garden in the sunlight as a nurse watches over us from the shade. 

Just as I had thought, the outside smell is wonderful. It smells warm and the air is the perfect mix of not too hot and not too cold. No humidity, either, which means we can stay out here for longer. 

I wait for Bokuto’s face to light up as he sticks a finger in the air. “Wait here!” 

He’s going to pluck a yellow tulip for me and hold it out to me with a, “Yellow for hope and cheerful thoughts!” And then when I take it with a smile, his face will go pink. 

After that one night of tears and promises, Bokuto was never secretive with his crush on me. I’d call myself an idiot if I said I felt nothing for the man as well but I just conceal it better. 

I’m dead. What’s the point of being in love?

Wait. Huh? 

My grip on the armrests of my wheelchair tighten when he makes a left turn in the garden instead of a right towards the tulips. 

The tulips were always a constant. 

What the hell is going on today?

I watch nervously as he plucks a flower that I can’t see and then giggles when the nurse scolds him lightheartedly. 

He comes to me with it behind his back and I hold out two fingers for him to place it between. 

I’m met with a red carnation. 

My favorite flower. 

I look up into his bright red face. 

Love and affection. 

I knew what the flower meant but that’s not why my eyes filled with tears. 

These changes in the script were beginning to overwhelm me. 

It always puts worthless hope inside of me and when that hope is proven wrong, I’m left in a depressed state for at least a week. I don’t know what’s going on but I wish it would stop. 

I was doing so good.

“‘Kaashi?! What’s wrong? Why’re you crying? Do you not like those flowers? I’ll go get another right now-”

I grab his sleeve to prevent him from leaving and wipe my eyes clean of tears. 

“No, Bokuto-san, I love red carnations. I’m just really happy today.” A small lie but it’s okay because the soft smile it pulled out of him was worth it. 

“Oh, okay.” 

If the script wanted to change itself then I’d indulge in it and add something myself. 

I told Bokuto to stay put as I wheeled myself to a part of the garden to pluck the flower that I see every time I’m with Bokuto. 

I come back and hand him the sunflower. 

“They always follow the light of the sun, y’know? You’re the most sun-like person I’ve ever met. So bright and full of contagious happiness.” 

He seems taken aback. Maybe this is one of the first times I’ve shown reciprocation of his feelings.

“‘Kaashi-” “Come inside, boys! Lunch is being served!” 

The nurse cut him off and we nod at her. “Push me?” I look up at him. “Of course.” 

I don’t know what’s going on with today. 

I don’t know if it’ll be the same tomorrow or go back to normal.

But I guess I’ll have no choice but to accept it.

Everything’s different from that point on. 

Different lunch. 

Different show plays on the television in Bokuto’s room. 

The sky gets darker quicker which is slightly upsetting because after it gets too dark, the day resets and I’m particularly enjoying this one.

However, around the time when I would get reset, it continues. 

I was going to suggest watching a volleyball match but someone knocked on the door of his room. 

I blinked in surprise at the group of men standing around the door. 

It was silent until an orange haired man, shorter than the rest, jumped forward. “Bokuto!” 

Bokuto’s eyes were so wide, I feared they would pop out. “Shoyo?” 

Suddenly, I recognized them. 

The blond haired one sporting a smirk is Atsumu Miya, a setter who I’ve always aspired to be like. 

The orange one with his arms around Bokuto’s neck is Hinata Shoyo, one of Japan’s best at receives. 

The black mop of curly hair belongs to a disgusted looking Sakusa Kiyoomi. 

“The MSBY main four. . .” I didn’t realize that I whispered out their fan-given nickname until all eyes were on me. 

I quickly moved from the edge of Bokuto’s bed to my wheelchair, ready to leave to give them some time alone. 

“Have fun with your visitors, Bokuto-san, I’ll see you later tonight.” 

Bokuto reached away from Hinata and quickly grabbed onto my shirt sleeve. “Huh? Why’re you leaving?” 

I look at him confusedly, “You see me every day. Spend time with your teammates.” 

His familiar pout forms on his face. 

“But my five favorite people are finally in the same room, why would I not want you here?” 

I feel the heat rush to my face. I’m among his favorite people?

“Please stay!” 

It takes no thought to nod. “Alright.” 

He lets out a little “yay” and then turns to his teammates. “‘Tsumu!” 

The blond bounds forwards, smiling and arms outstretched, “Bo-kun!” 

They hug and then he smiles at the black haired hitter. “Hi, Kiyoomi-kun!” 

He waves at him instead of asking for a hug because everyone knows about how touchy (or lack thereof) Sakusa is but the spiker does something no one expected. 

With a deep breath and a few large steps forward, he pulls Bokuto into a tight hug. 

It leaves the three other players gaping until Bokuto returns the quick hug. 

It’s silent for a moment afterwards and I almost regret staying until I catch Bokuto’s eye to which he gasps and nods. 

“Oh, right! Guys, this here is Akaashi! He’s from the room next door to mine!” 

I bow my head at the three and before they can introduce themselves, I cut in. “No introductions necessary, I know who you all are.” 

Atsumu hums. “Oh~ Were you a fan before you met Bo-kun?” 

I shrug. “Not particularly. I don’t really have a favorite team or player. I just watch a lot of volleyball in my free time and he heard a video playing from my room and wandered over.” 

Sakusa snorted from under his mask. “Typical.” 

Hinata perks up at the topic of volleyball. “Oh, you watch a lot? Do you play, Akaashi-san?” 

Bokuto answers before I can. “He sure does! He’s my setter now, I don’t make the rules!” 

Atsumu nearly chokes on air. “Bo-kun?! Hello, I don’t know if ya remember but we were on the same team?” 

Bokuto laughs as he waves him off. “Everyone knows you’re Kiyoomi’s setter~”

Hinata nods along with them as Miya narrows his eyes at me. 

“Setter, huh? You play for a team before this?” 

I shake my head, “Just highschool and college. Nowhere near your talent, don’t worry.”

Sakusa groaned into his hand as Atsumu squealed. 

“Why would you praise that piss-head? He doesn’t know how to handle it.”

They all get to talking about how Bokuto is feeling and his recovery shortly after that. 

I thought maybe, just maybe, they’d avoid the question. I was hoping with everything I had that they would. They didn’t. 

Hinata scratched the back of his neck. “So, Bokuto-san. . .” 

Bokuto looked at the male sitting by his feet. “Yeah, Sho?” 

“Do you think. . .” He avoided eye contact by twirling his fingers and I knew what was coming. I was preparing myself for Bokuto’s heartbreak after telling his best friends. 

Hinata’s eyes glistened with tears and shook his head, signifying he didn’t want to continue. So Sakusa did it for him. 

“Do you think you’ll ever come back to the Jackals?” 

Atsumu was biting his nails while one hand petted Hinata’s hair. 

Bokuto didn’t react how I thought he would. 

“I think if I work hard enough,” I give him the look I give him when he pushes himself too hard. “At my own pace,” He chuckles. “Then I should be able to play volleyball again.” 

They all seemed to sigh in relief. “But I don’t think I can ever play with the Jackals again.” 

Atsumu frowned. “But you just said-” 

The grey haired man shrugged. “Sure, I’ll be able to play maybe. But on a professional team? Never will I have the strength for that again.”

They lapsed into a sad silence and it stayed like that. 

Quiet but not uncomfortable. 

Until a nurse showed up at the door. 

“Akaashi-san,” Her voice cracked so she cleared it. She seemed a bit upset. “It’s time for your medication.” 

I nod. “Visit me later, Bokuto-san.” 

When I’m almost out the door, he shouts, “Wait!” 

When I turn, he’s holding out the red carnation he plucked for me earlier. “Don’t forget your flower.” He hands it to Sakusa who passes it to me. 

“Right, I'll put it in water right now.” And that’s what I did as soon as I got back to my room. I filled an old vase with water and set the single flower in it. 

I moved to sit in the bed and took my medication like normal. 

Normal until I caught sight of the nurse’s tear-filled eyes over the little cup of pills. 

“Aika? What’s the matter?” 

“Akaashi-san. . . please. . .” She was speaking but not all of it was clear. Most of her words were muffled. 

“What?” 

She wiped her eyes and rushed out of the room when she heard Bokuto and his former teammates leave his room to surely come to mine. 

I heard my heart rate monitor pick up speed as she shut the door behind her, putting a hand on Bokuto’s chest to stop him from coming any closer. 

“Bokuto?” I knew he couldn’t hear me but I wish he would. 

My panic increased as I watched her say something to him and his face drop. 

He started shaking his head in refusal and even from here I could see his eyes fill with tears.

It didn’t take long for them to spill over.

“Bokuto-san! Please!” 

His friends surrounding him already started to comfort him but he pushed them off when he heard my shout, ripping the glass door open and walking (way too fast for his recovery) to my bed to throw himself on his knees next to me. 

My breath was starting to shorten. 

“Bokuto-san.” He started to sob into my side. “Bokuto-san! Please tell me, what’s wrong?” 

Still, no response so I yelled, “Bokuto! Please, I’m scared, what the hell is happening?” 

He sat up on my bed and held my face in his large, calloused hands. 

Right now there was no one else here. 

There was no Nurse Aika, no Sakusa, no Hinata, no Atsumu. Just Bokuto and I. 

“Akaashi, please.” 

I placed my hands atop his. “Please what, Bokuto? What do you need?” 

“Akaashi, I’m in love with you.” 

The statement caught me off guard but I responded quickly nonetheless as I moved a hand to stroke his hair. “I know.” 

He let out another sob, “Oh, Akaashi, I need you. . .” My grip tightened. I was growing more scared and frustrated by the second. 

“What, Bokuto? I’ll do anything just what is it that you need?” 

His face went straight out of nowhere. 

Tears still flowed freely down it but he seemed almost numb. 

“I need you to wake.” 

What? 

I voiced my thoughts, “What do you mean?” 

He started speaking rapidly but just like nurse Aika earlier, his voice was completely muffled. 

“Bokuto, what? I can’t- wait please, start over, I can’t hear you-”

I was suddenly aware of everything else that I didn’t need to be focused on. 

The all too fast sound of the heart rate machine beeping, the blood pumping through my veins, my heartbeat in my ears, his muffled shouting, everything felt so wrong. 

And then, the feeling of his hands against my face started to fade. 

“No- No, no, no, not now-” 

I knew this feeling. The day was resetting. 

I watched the room go black around the edges of my vision as I thrashed around, trying to stay. 

“Bokuto, no. Don’t- don’t let me go, please!” 

It was suddenly dark. 

I was in the waiting room. 

For once, something felt so different about this place. 

Was it warmer? 

I didn’t have time to think about it because suddenly, Bokuto’s voice in my head was at max volume, repeating itself from earlier. 

“I need you to wake.

I need you to wake. 

I need you to wake. 

Wake.”

And then something hit my head. Literally. 

I tried to grab at it but it hit the floor and I dropped to my knees to feel around for it. 

When I picked up the weirdly shaped piece of cold metal, my breath was caught in my throat. 

A key. 

A key for what?

The door. 

I threw myself towards the nearest wall, feeling all around it for the knob. 

Wrong wall. Next one.

Wrong wall. Try the next one. 

Again. It has to be this one-

I found it. 

It took a few tries but the key went in and the door flew open. 

I flung out of it and was met with two pathways. 

One of them led to nothing but a really bright light and the other was pitch black. 

I almost started down the bright path until I heard something coming from the dark path. 

“‘Kaashi, please!” 

“Bokuto-san. . .” 

I needed not another thought and started running. 

I ran like I never have before. 

I ran until I wasn’t even sure I was on the path anymore. 

I thought I really did lose the path for a moment until I took another step and fell forward into what felt like a really large and deep hole. 

You know that moment when you’re falling and you can anticipate the ground coming? 

I felt it. I was so close to the ground. I closed my eyes and braced for impact. 

But I hit nothing. 

Nothing but what felt like a freezing pool of water but I was dry. 

And then my eyes opened. 

I blinked for a moment, staring upwards. 

Yes, this was my hospital room. 

And Bokuto is just where I left him. 

Crying into my side. 

“B-Bokuto-san?” 

Ouch. 

My throat was dry and I struggled to get the word out. 

He nearly jumped out of his skin as he hopped to his feet, staring at me agape. 

I had to think for a moment: Was this really Bokuto-san? 

The man in front of me had longer hair, tied back into a low, loose bun, dark eye bags, and was starting to gain back the muscle he had lost during his stay at the hospital. 

I didn’t doubt it was him as I made eye contact with him though. Those were the wide, bright yellow eyes of my Kotaro Bokuto. 

“‘Kasshi?” He whispered. 

I nodded.

We held a stare for a minute until he slapped himself across the face. Hard. 

I jumped. “Bokuto-san!” I reached out to him but he was already running out the door, shouting. 

“Help! Nurse! Someone come quickly! It’s Akaashi! He’s. . . Akaashi’s awake!” 

Had I fallen asleep? How long was I out? 

I heard Aika’s voice come quickly from around the corner. 

“Kotaro. . . Your mind is playing tricks on you again. Akaashi’s not awake, he can’t be-” 

She stopped mid sentence in the doorway as Bokuto ran back to my side. 

Tears were again falling from his face but this time he was wearing a huge smile. 

I had never been more confused in my life and that only increased tenfold when Aika basically ran down the hallway, shouting for a doctor. 

Quite a few staff members came into the room to surround me and they didn’t even attempt to tell Bokuto to back away. 

He just kept holding my hand, crying into it, whispering my name. 

After a lot of tests were taken where I just stared wide eyed at the doctors working on me, I was left alone with a single doctor and Bokuto. 

The doctor stood at the foot of my bed. 

“Akaashi, before I explain, is there anything you need?” 

I thought for a moment. “Water would be nice.” Bokuto was at the sink and back in less than twenty seconds. 

They watched me gulp down the water in awe and then when I finished asked if there was anything else. 

“I heard. . . I heard Bokuto tell nurse Aika I was “awake”. Was I sleeping? For how long?”

The doctor inhaled. 

“The last time you were conscious, you started to crash and nearly died. You were rushed into emergency surgery and we were afraid that you wouldn’t be able to live on your own after it. So we made the decision to slip you into a medically induced coma. We never thought you would wake up.” 

Coma? I was in a fucking coma? 

My voice came out as a mere whisper, “For how long?” He looked down at his charts in his hand. “A little over eight months-” “Two hundred and forty-six days. That’s eight months and three days.” Bokuto cut in. 

He hadn’t taken his eyes off of me but if what they say is true, I wouldn't either in his situation. 

The doctor explains to me more in detail about what happened and what’s to happen next and then asks once more how I feel. 

“My head is starting to hurt and it’s been. . .really hard to think normally since I woke up.” He nods and takes a note or two. “That’s to be well expected after waking up after such a long time. Come now, Bokuto, let’s leave him alone for the night.” 

Bokuto was obviously reluctant but was going to leave if he had to. 

Before he could go, I gripped his wrist as tight as my hand would let me. 

“Please don’t leave me here alone.” 

Bokuto dropped any means of leaving and sat down on the bed next to me. 

“Of course I won’t.” 

\-- 

It was hard but we talked almost that whole night. 

I missed this so much: having a conversation that you haven’t memorized all of the lines to. 

Bokuto had recovered the most he would as long as he stayed in the hospital and was discharged about two months ago to finish recovery. 

He had come here every day for as long as he could, ranging from an hour to an entire night. 

He was indeed wearing the new cologne I had smelled earlier.

He really had brought his three teammates from the MSBY Black Jackals to meet me. 

And so coincidentally, (I think it’s something more than coincidental), there was a vase of red carnations on the table beside my bed. In the middle of them sat a single sunflower. 

He told me as much as he could and answered a lot of my questions before I could even ask them. 

But I had one more. 

“Bokuto-san?” “Yes?” 

I furrowed my eyebrows. 

“Was something about to happen? Something big?” 

His eyes widened and he held my hand tighter. “What do you mean?” 

“I only woke up because something big, I don’t know what, was about to happen. After nurse Aika told you about whatever it was, you were frantic and begged me to wake. It unlocked something in my brain that let me come back to the present.” 

His pink lips were parted as he started down at me from where I laid on his chest. 

“‘Kaashi. . . they were going to pull the plug today.” 

My heart stopped in my chest. 

I could have died. 

I almost died. 

“You saved me.” 

“I did?” 

“You did, Bokuto.” 

I’ve never been someone to make the first move at anything. But it just felt appropriate after everything that happened to lean up and kiss him. So I did. 

He kissed back immediately, his soft lips moving against mine. 

And when we pulled apart, his eyes were wet again. 

“I always knew you would come back. Just for a moment, just a single moment today though, I lost hope. Please don’t ever leave me again.” 

“I won’t. Don’t ever lose hope in me again, either.” 

He held my head against his neck. 

“I won’t.” 

\-- 

After being immobile for eight months, walking and doing normal, everyday things wasn’t easy. 

But just like I helped Bokuto, he helped me and I was as normally functioning as I would get in a little over four months when they discharged me. 

Bokuto insisted I moved in with him and I agreed, having no money and no place else to go but to also live every moment I could with him. 

We spent our days with each other when he wasn’t working and on the days that were practice-free, we spent it with the MSBY boys.

Bokuto was right in my “coma dream” is what I call it. 

He could play volleyball again. Amazingly, but never the way he used to be able to. 

Another three months later, Bokuto and I felt confident enough in my strength to let me play in a three on three volleyball match for fun with our little friend group. 

Nothing would ever feel as satisfying as the first time I set to Bokuto. 

He hit the most beautiful cross shot that left us all in a state of silence for a moment. 

Well, it was a silence that ended when Bokuto swept me off of my feet, squealing about how he really had found the most perfect setter. (To which Atsumu said “Um, hello?”)

Yeah, nothing could compare to the satisfaction that brought. 

That is until quite a few years later when Bokuto proposed to me on that same old neighborhood volleyball court where I set to him for the first time.

Of course I said yes. 

I’m convinced that in this life, there was no one else in the world that could’ve been a better match for me than Bokuto.

We were “soulmates” as Shoyo called it. 

After so much trauma, so much sadness, we were finally able to spend the rest of our lives together. 

Car accident free, coma free, hospital room free, and broken hearts free. 

Just he and I happily married (with maybe a child or two in the future) for the rest of our days. 

And oh, were they the happiest days anyone’s ever experienced.


End file.
